EDWARDSBURG —Pumpkin-carving artistry awakened the inner child in some Christianson Industries employees

who participated in the second annual competition judged Thursday.
For first-place winner Mark Underly, who created an “angry monster,” “That’s my first one in 34 years, actually, since I was about 10. I didn’t think it would win,” but judges thought it “fit Halloween. It really looks scary and we were looking more for originality than stencils.”
Underly rejoined Christianson on Feb. 8, 2010.
“I used a pattern and a carving tool, like a little saw,” he said.
Charles Hammond, second with his rendition of the University of Notre Dame logo, heard so much hooting from non-Fighting Irish fans that it probably explained why he wore a Yale shirt to work.
Third went to Ryan Williams, who, 30 years after the country icon appeared at the Cass County Fair, carved a likeness of Johnny Cash which appears almost magically with the orange orb illuminated.
The company purchased 21 pumpkins, of which 19 were entered.
One’s innards proved too soft and the other failed to finish due to a family commitment.
Playing cards torn in half assured each entry was weighed anonymously on its merits.
The one which baffled judges was hollowed out without cutting a lid.
Shop vac?
No one divulged their secret.
Pumpkins were also transformed into the Grim Reaper (though squatting down from a low angle it could also be TV’s ALF), an Elvis-like pompadour, a Mossy Oak hunting brand logo and  a spider web with a dangling arachnid when the candle is extinguished,
Christianson, an aluminum fabricator on May Street, makes ladders that go on travel trailers and motorhomes.